Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was standing in a hallway near the Red Wings dressing room Thursday morning explaining exactly why he wasn't panicking despite the team's winless streak.
"I can't say we're playing bad. We had three one-goal losses," he said, adding a 4-2 loss to San Jose that included a late empty-net goal by the Sharks' Joe Thornton.
At that moment, coach Mike Babcock walked by and offered up his theory.
"Five goals in five games," he said without breaking stride.
It didn't get any better that night. The Red Wings lost again, this time 4-1 to the Calgary Flames. It was the Red Wings' sixth consecutive loss, and Babcock's stat is one game worse: six goals in six games.
To see what the Wings may do in the midst of their winless streak and to get a look at Craig's weekly mailbag, become an ESPN Insider.
- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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